Strawberry Buttercream Frosting – Made with Fresh or Frozen Berries

Learn how to make the best strawberry buttercream frosting. This frosting can be made with fresh or frozen berries and turns out extra creamy with a delicious, real strawberry flavor. It pipes beautifully on cakes or cupcakes and tastes delicious on vanilla, strawberry or chocolate cake.

This strawberry frosting will transform any cake or cupcake into the most delicious treat. It’s bursting with fresh strawberry flavor without being too sweet. It’s creamy, smooth and holds its shape when piped – making it the perfect strawberry buttercream recipe.

You see – fluffy, creamy buttercream is my weakness. And one of my all-time favorite frosting recipes is this strawberry frosting. Every spring my Vanilla Cupcakes with Fresh Strawberry Frosting starts to go crazy on Pinterest – so I figured it was time to create a step by step post on how to make strawberry frosting.

For this strawberry buttercream frosting recipe – we’re using real strawberries. No artificial flavors here. It does mean that there’s a little extra work involved to get that delicious, natural strawberry flavor – AND thick, creamy consistency.

But the little extra work is totally worth it.

How to Make Strawberry Buttercream Frosting

To get started, first we’ll core the fresh strawberries, then puree them in a food processor or blender.

Put the puree through a sieve to remove the seeds. This isn’t 100% necessary, but I prefer my frosting without the seeds.

Then it’s time to boil down the strawberry puree. The mixture is boiled over medium heat while stirring occasionally until it’s reduced to about 1/3 of it’s original volume. At this point, it should be much darker in color (think a dark red-ish pink) and thick in consistency.

It’s really important to boil down the strawberry puree until it’s very thick, otherwise you’ll have too much water in your frosting and it’ll be too thin.

Then the thick strawberry sauce needs to be cooled. This step is 100% mandatory. If the reduced strawberry puree is even the tiniest bit warm when you add it to your frosting – the frosting will separate and it won’t work.

From there – making the strawberry buttercream is pretty straight forward.

Beat the butter until it’s fluffy (about 2 minutes).

Then mix in about 1/2 of the powdered sugar.

Beat in the reduced strawberry puree, vanilla extract & salt.

Then mix in the rest of the powdered sugar about 1/2 cup at a time, adding in a little cream if necessary.

Tips for Making Strawberry Frosting

Use fresh or frozen berries to make this strawberry frosting

If using frozen berries, you’ll need to boil down the strawberry puree for longer

Push the strawberry puree through a sieve using the back of a spoon or rubber spatula – if you don’t get all the seeds out, don’t worry

Make sure to boil the puree down for at least 15 minutes – it should be thick and look like jam

Make sure to cool the reduced strawberry puree fully. It should be cold before adding into the frosting.

The brighter red your strawberries are – the more vibrant color it will have and more flavorful your frosting will be. You can also add a few drops of red food coloring for a brighter pink color.

***If your strawberry frosting separates or is too watery – this is either caused by not boiling down the strawberry puree for long enough to remove the water, or because the reduced puree was too warm when it was added to the butter.

This strawberry buttercream frosting is so perfect on vanilla cupcakes, chocolate cake, or thick sugar cookies. I love the natural strawberry flavor and the color is just way too pretty.

Strawberry Buttercream Frosting

Learn how to make strawberry frosting using fresh berries. This strawberry buttercream tastes delicious on vanilla or chocolate cake, and is totally pipeable. The fresh berries give this frosting the most beautiful color!

Instructions

Then place in a food processor or blender and pulse until smooth. You should have about 1 and 1/2 cups of strawberry puree.

Then put the puree through a sieve to remove the seeds - I do about 1/3 of the mixture at a time.

Pour the strained strawberry puree into a medium saucepan over low-medium heat. Allow the mixture to boil gently while occasionally stirring.

Continue boiling until it reduces to at least 1/4 of the original volume. It should be thick. Place the reduced strawberry puree into the fridge or freezer and cool fully.

In a large bowl using a stand or hand-held electric mixer on medium speed, beat the butter until fluffy and no lumps remain.

Turn the mixer down to low speed and carefully beat in 2 and 1/2 cups of the powdered sugar.

Ensure the strawberry puree is cold, then add 3-4 tablespoons into the frosting along with the vanilla and salt. Beat together on medium speed until combined. (At this point the mixture will look uneven and not much like frosting).

Beat in the rest of the powdered sugar on low speed. Once combined, turn the mixer to medium-high speed to beat it until fluffy. Beat in a little extra powdered sugar and 1 tablespoon of cream as needed.

Notes

This recipe will make enough to frost 12-18 cupcakes if frosting using a piping bag, or 18-24 cupcakes if frosting using a knife. It's also enough to frost the top of a 9x13 inch cake.

About Fiona

I'm the baker and blogger behind Just So Tasty! I believe anyone can make tasty, homemade desserts and treats. I love classic recipes that are delicious (obviously), not too fussy, and use simple, everyday ingredients.

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Yes, I cool them in the fridge. You can also put them in the freezer to speed up the process. The length of time will depend on your fridge and the size of the bowl. But probably 15 minutes. It shouldn’t be even the tiniest bit warm when you add the strawberries to the buttercream.

Wow! Wow! Wow! This had to be the best frosting I’ve ever made. The purée took a lot longer than expected but that was ok because I made it the day before so I’d make sure it was super cold. I didn’t use as much confectioners sugar as you said, only 500g. I live in Mexico so the sweet quality of my strawberries probably also contributed to the unbelievable flavor. I made four batches because I have to frost 150 mini cupcakes. I’m sure I’ll have leftover but better safe than sorry. And in this case leftovers will be fine by me!

Wow!!! This frosting is unbelievable! I used it to frost vanilla cupcakes and they are amazing. I’ve been making desserts for my friends and family for years, but this is one of the BEST recipes I have ever made! It’s winter here, but the creamy strawberry frosting tastes like summer. I can’t wait for warmer weather to have a BBQ and make these for dessert! Reducing the strawberry purée took awhile, mostly because I didn’t want to risk burning it. And I think straining out the seeds is worth the extra step because the frosting is notably creamy. I popped the purée into the freezer and it was ice cold within 20 minutes. I can’t wait to make this again! Thankyou!

I’m so glad you love the frosting! You can definitely make the puree in advanced by a few days and store it in the fridge. I’d say probably up to 3-4 days. Unfortunately, if you freeze the puree you can get ice crystals and therefore introduce more water – so you’d have to boil it down again a bit to boil out the water. But it would save you the time of pureeing and removing the seeds.

Yes. When you boil down the puree, you’ll end up with about 1/4 – 1/3 cup of puree at the end. The longer you boil it the thicker it will be and the less volume you’ll end up with. If you’re ok with the frosting being a little thinner, you can add more puree to the frosting. But I definitely recommend being a little on the cautious side starting with 3 tablespoons, because if the puree isn’t reduced enough adding more puree will increase the likelihood that the frosting will separate or become too watery.

HEAVENLY!!! I just made this icing and it’s to die for! However, since it is made with fresh strawberries, Stored in an airtight container in the fridge, how long will this icing keep? and at room temperature?